IMA introduces high speed continuous motion equipment for spouted pouch assembly, filling & sealing
Image courtesy of IMA Dairy & Food US
IMA Dairy & Food US, whose equipment solutions comprise the long-established brands Gasti, Hamba, Hassia, Fillshape, Corazza and Erca, has introduced a portfolio of high-speed, continuous motion rotary machines for assembling, filling and sealing spouted pouches in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Offering significant cost savings when compared to buying pre-made pouches, the Ermetika Series has four models whith output capacities ranging from 120 to 480 pouches per minute – reportedly far faster than intermittent motion modules.
Part of IMA’s Fillshape family of machines, the Ermetika Series offers premium levels of efficiency and quality suitable for a wide array of food and dairy products. Strict segregation of pouch making and filling areas lends itself to exemplary levels of hygiene, and its fill-through-the-spout system allows for complete-to-compacity pouch fills, avoiding costly materials wastage. IMA says that the machines can nimbly accommodate films, spouts and caps from different suppliers, and can produce an exceedingly broad range of pouch shapes and sizes.
Fitted with a novel, patent-pending leak test system, the Ermetika line is the only machine series capable of validating the resistance of the pouch seal – a quality control device that can enhance reputations by significantly mitigating the risk of defects being shipped and shelved. The exacting system has been shown to decrease greenlighted leak defects to 1 in 30,000 – a 300% improvement over conventional leak detection technologies.
For the Ermetika Series, another differentiating feature is extended and continuous welding time, and a dwell time of three full seconds per station compared to a more typical .7 seconds. Its compact footprint and single-person operation are also attractive aspects in increasingly efficiency-minded manufacturing settings, says IMA.
All Ermetika Series machines can pair with Fillshape Kompakta Pouch Makers for completely vertical integration. Extended shelf life and aseptic versions also are available.
